I will now relate what hath been written concerning us in the Chaldean
histories, which records have a great agreement with our books in oilier
things also. Berosus shall be witness to what I say: he was by birth a
Chaldean, well known by the learned, on account of his publication of the
Chaldean books of astronomy and philosophy among the Greeks. This Berosus,
therefore, following the most ancient records of that nation, gives us
a history of the deluge of waters that then happened, and of the destruction
of mankind thereby, and agrees with Moses's narration thereof. He also
gives us an account of that ark wherein Noah, the origin of our race, was
preserved, when it was brought to the highest part of the Armenian mountains;
after which he gives us a catalogue of the posterity of Noah, and adds
the years of their chronology, and at length comes down to Nabolassar,
who was king of Babylon, and of the Chaldeans. And when he was relating
the acts of this king, he describes to us how he sent his son Nabuchodonosor
against Egypt, and against our land, with a great army, upon his being
informed that they had revolted from him; and how, by that means, he subdued
them all, and set our temple that was at Jerusalem on fire; nay, and removed
our people entirely out of their own country, and transferred them to Babylon;
when it so happened that our city was desolate during the interval of seventy
years, until the days of Cyrus king of Persia. He then says, "That
this Babylonian king conquered Egypt, and Syria, and Phoenicia, and Arabia,
and exceeded in his exploits all that had reigned before him in Babylon
and Chaldea." A little after which Berosus subjoins what follows in
his History of Ancient Times. I will set down Berosus's own accounts, which
are these: "When Nabolassar, father of Nabuchodonosor, heard that
the governor whom he had set over Egypt, and over the parts of Celesyria
and Phoenicia, had revolted from him, he was not able to bear it any longer;
but committing certain parts of his army to his son Nabuchodonosor, who
was then but young, he sent him against the rebel: Nabuchodonosor joined
battle with him, and conquered him, and reduced the country under his dominion
again. Now it so fell out that his father Nabolassar fell into a distemper
at this time, and died in the city of Babylon, after he had reigned twenty-nine
years. But as he understood, in a little time, that his father Nabolassar
was dead, he set the affairs of Egypt and the other countries in order,
and committed the captives he had taken from the Jews, and Phoenicians,
and Syrians, and of the nations belonging to Egypt, to some of his friends,
that they might conduct that part of the forces that had on heavy armor,
with the rest of his baggage, to Babylonia; while he went in haste, having
but a few with him, over the desert to Babylon; whither, when he was come,
he found the public affairs had been managed by the Chaldeans, and that
the principal person among them had preserved the kingdom for him. Accordingly,
he now entirely obtained all his father's dominions. He then came, and
ordered the captives to be placed as colonies in the most proper places
of Babylonia; but for himself, he adorned the temple of Belus, and the
other temples, after an elegant manner, out of the spoils he had taken
in this war. He also rebuilt the old city, and added another to it on the
outside, and so far restored Babylon, that none who should besiege it afterwards
might have it in their power to divert the river, so as to facilitate an
entrance into it; and this he did by building three walls about the inner
city, and three about the outer. Some of these walls he built of burnt
brick and bitumen, and some of brick only. So when he had thus fortified
the city with walls, after an excellent manner, and had adorned the gates
magnificently, he added a new palace to that which his father had dwelt
in, and this close by it also, and that more eminent in its height, and
in its great splendor. It would perhaps require too long a narration, if
any one were to describe it. However, as prodigiously large and as magnificent
as it was, it was finished in fifteen days. Now in this palace he erected
very high walks, supported by stone pillars, and by planting what was called
a pensile paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees,
he rendered the prospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country.
This he did to please his queen, because she had been brought up in Media,
and was fond of a mountainous situation."
This is what Berosus relates concerning the forementioned king,
as he relates many other things about him also in the third book of his
Chaldean History; wherein he complains of the Grecian writers for supposing,
without any foundation, that Babylon was built by Semiramis, note
queen of Assyria, and for her false pretense to those wonderful edifices
thereto buildings at Babylon, do no way contradict those ancient and relating,
as if they were her own workmanship; as indeed in these affairs the Chaldean
History cannot but be the most credible. Moreover, we meet with a confirmation
of what Berosus says in the archives of the Phoenicians, concerning this
king Nabuchodonosor, that he conquered all Syria and Phoenicia; in which
case Philostratus agrees with the others in that history which he composed,
where he mentions the siege of Tyre; as does Megasthenes also, in the fourth
book of his Indian History, wherein he pretends to prove that the forementioned
king of the Babylonians was superior to Hercules in strength and the greatness
of his exploits; for he says that he conquered a great part of Libya, and
conquered Iberia also. Now as to what I have said before about the temple
at Jerusalem, that it was fought against by the Babylonians, and burnt
by them, but was opened again when Cyrus had taken the kingdom of Asia,
shall now be demonstrated from what Berosus adds further upon that head;
for thus he says in his third book: "Nabuchodonosor, after he had
begun to build the forementioned wall, fell sick, and departed this life,
when he had reigned forty-three years; whereupon his son Evilmerodach obtained
the kingdom. He governed public affairs after an illegal and impure manner,
and had a plot laid against him by Neriglissoor, his sister's husband,
and was slain by him when he had reigned but two years. After he was slain,
Neriglissoor, the person who plotted against him, succeeded him in the
kingdom, and reigned four years; his son Laborosoarchod obtained the kingdom,
though he was but a child, and kept it nine mouths; but by reason of the
very ill temper and ill practices he exhibited to the world, a plot was
laid against him also by his friends, and he was tormented to death. After
his death, the conspirators got together, and by common consent put the
crown upon the head of Nabonnedus, a man of Babylon, and one who belonged
to that insurrection. In his reign it was that the walls of the city of
Babylon were curiously built with burnt brick and bitumen; but when he
was come to the seventeenth year of his reign, Cyrus came out of Persia
with a great army; and having already conquered all the rest of Asia, he
came hastily to Babylonia. When Nabonnedus perceived he was coming to attack
him, he met him with his forces, and joining battle with him was beaten,
and fled away with a few of his troops with him, and was shut up within
the city Borsippus. Hereupon Cyrus took Babylon, and gave order that the
outer walls of the city should be demolished, because the city had proved
very troublesome to him, and cost him a great deal of pains to take it.
He then marched away to Borsippus, to besiege Nabonnedus; but as Nabonnedus
did not sustain the siege, but delivered himself into his hands, he was
at first kindly used by Cyrus, who gave him Carmania, as a place for him
to inhabit in, but sent him out of Babylonia. Accordingly Nabonnedus spent
the rest of his time in that country, and there died."